This invention relates to hemostats and, particularly, to an apparatus for providing hemostatic pressure to the most important area of the nasal cavity in regards to frequency of nasal hemorrhage.
At present, the various methods of controlling nasal hemorrhage involve devices or a series of devices which require the knowledge, service, and skill of a physician or trained nurse or paramedic for implementation. In our experience as an otolaryngologist, there is no safe method available to the nonphysician or nonmedical individual for emergency control of nasal hemorrhage. Folk medicine and home remedies, long-existing for attempts at controlling nasal hemorrhage are seldom more sophisticated than the placement of a piece of tissue paper into the bleeding site of the nose, and are usually grossly inadequate for the emergency. Moreover, for the nonnasal medical/surgical specialist, the devices presently available generally require skills beyond the scope of even a general practitioner and certainly more than is necessary for the qualified paramedic or nurse.
At present, a plurality of gauze cylinders are forced into the nasal cavity, one after another, until sufficient pressure is created to provide a type of nasal hemostat. Such a procedure is extremely awkward, time-consuming, and painful. In addition, the gauze cylinders frequently fail to apply pressure to the specific blood vessel which has been ruptured. More recently, a type of balloon has been employed to expand in the nasal cavity for the same purpose. While this procedure is less time-consuming and painful, it also is often ineffectual in applying hemostatic pressure to the specific blood vessel which has been ruptured and is certainly beyond the scope of the average individual for its use.
Even more recently, an intranasal tampon designed and patented by your petitioner has appeared in the marketplace, but it, too, admittedly, is beyond the scope of the nonmedical public and even the average general physician.
As a result of our experience with this medical emergency and our recognition that it is extremely rare for an individual to suffer a nosebleed when the immediate services of a trained physician are available, we have designed a nasal hemostat which is, at the same time, both easily utilized by the nonphysician and nonspecialist physician and also extremely effective in the vast majority--that is, greater than 90%--of nosebleeds.
The design of this nasal hemostat was greatly influenced by the desire to diminish the amount of waste material and provide for an interlocking of two like hemostats with total use of a square of all raw material. The triangular shapes interdigitate and form a square, virtually ensuring total use of the raw material.